Interview: Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia in his office in the capital Addis Ababa.

TIME: Many people outside Africa know Ethiopia primarily from television reports of the famine in 1984 and 1985.Meles: That was clearly part of our reality. We cannot run away from it. Ethiopia is in the midst of a profound transformation. Most analysts agree that our growth has been exceptionally pro-poor. The political transformation is still a work in progress. There have been quite a few bumps on the road. But in the end, the movement has been inexorably in the right direction towards permanently establishing democratic institutions, towards further consolidation of a democratic culture and towards further stabilization. On...